I was hesitant to use Twitter. It seemed like just a wild stream of useless blather and banter, people throwing their boring thoughts out into the ether. There is that in tweets. But there is more.

Later, I discovered some interesting people to Follow, like Astro_Mike, who I mentioned in my blog
Getting Past Twitter Noise to Useful Information. Now, after several months of using Twitter for myself personally and for the company I work for, CollabNet, I am getting to the heart of Twitter and discovering it’s usefulness on several levels.

Twitter really is a virtual multiverse. It’s not just individual people sending out tweets, but it’s people sending out tweets that connect with other tweets, tweets that often contain useful information, and tweets that form communities around various topics and events. The real essence of Twitter  isn’t so much Following and being Followed, but using Search and hash tags to get at your interests. And, I’m sure, there are other mechanisms I have yet to discover.

I have set up Searches for products I own, products I’m having issues with, or products I’m considering buying. For instance, when I was considering buying a Kindle, I could see on Amazon that people were leaving reviews. Those reviews have also affected my decisions to buy, but they don’t always tell me what I need to know.

So, I set up a Search in the Twittersphere for Kindle. Lo and behold, I got pages of Kindle users and would-be Kindle users. People tend to throw opinions, good or bad, out in tweets quickly. They get to the point. And I can directly ask them questions. What I discovered was that Kindle users are very happy with this gadget. I could see how people were using it, any issues I could expect or watch for, and tips for using it. I bought a Kindle, and now add my own thoughts out there where others can make use of my comments or ignore them.

Product searches are also good for instant support.  Don’t know how to do something with your new MP3 player? See what the Twitter community has already said about it, and if your answer is not there, ask someone. I have found this works more quickly than going to the product site, or emailing the company.

Speaking of companies . . . another great use of Search is that it allows companies to see what people are saying about them, the difficulties they may be having with a product or service, and allows them to interact directly with customers. When I first downloaded Seesmic (my Twitter tool of choice), I sent out a tweet saying how much I liked the software. Seesmic sent out a tweet response seconds after mine, thanking me, and telling me they were in the Twittersphere in case I had any issues. Instant customer service!

At CollabNet, we are doing the same thing. We search for people talking about CollabNet, our products and platform, and respond to tweets where appropriate. We have cleared confusion about downloads, thanked customers for bragging about us, and asked for feedback, which we have received.

Twitter is very much a vibrant, thriving community when you discover how to find the tweets of value to you. Search is an excellent tool to help you do just that. I have saved searches on Star Wars, Second Life, Kindle, CollabNet, Subversion, Sansa MP3 Player, and communities, etc. In addition, groups are formed around certain topics with hash tags.

I keep my eye on the  “hashtag communities” #ochealth, and another #octribe.  The first are people who are interested in Online Community Health, hence #ochealth, and the other, #octribe, is the keyword we were given at a conference I went to. So now all the people who attended that conference have a way of seeing what topics people are continuing to talk about from that conference. We we tweet something we think will be of interest to those folks, we include that hash tag keyword.

Now, in addition to having discovered some interesting people to Follow, I have also discovered communities around various topics through Search, and see how hash tag keywords allow groups to connect and communicate. These are ways of using Twitter are truly useful to me, and I can see how they are useful to companies to connect them with the people who use their products.

This is social networking at it’s most practical and useful, IMHO.

Tags: searches, Social Networking, Twitter

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 12:52 am and is filed under Learning, Social Networking, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.